Mission Decision

[UtahDan]

That's a surprising series of statements. I've been hearing from mission presidents and GAs for years that missions are primarily for the missionaries' benefit. What other GAs disagree? Why would he not believe it himself? Why do you hope he doesn't?

This seems intuitive. If that is not the reason, then why keep any European mission open?

[TripletDaddy]

This seems intuitive. If that is not the reason, then why keep any European mission open?

Why would low convert baptism rates change the primary purpose of an MP (assuming it were to get converts?). The work is harder there, to be sure, but why would the purpose of the MP necessarily be altered by the success rate?

[Jacob]

That's a surprising series of statements. I've been hearing from mission presidents and GAs for years that missions are primarily for the missionaries' benefit. What other GAs disagree? Why would he not believe it himself? Why do you hope he doesn't?

That's a sad commentary. I hope it is not true. Because if it is, the whole missionary program is a bit of a scam.

[mUUser]

That's a surprising series of statements. I've been hearing from mission presidents and GAs for years that missions are primarily for the missionaries' benefit. What other GAs disagree? Why would he not believe it himself? Why do you hope he doesn't?

I would hope that's true, cause the proselyting, baptism and retention of converts is largely a failure IMO.

[DU Ute]

Would anyone's answer change if it were your daughter rather than your son?

[LA Ute]

That's a sad commentary. I hope it is not true. Because if it is, the whole missionary program is a bit of a scam.

It would be more precise to say that a mission president's first priority is his missionaries and their progress. No scam there.

You didn't defend your statements. Are there GAs who disagree with President Eyring? Why do you think he doesn't believe what he said?

[wuapinmon]

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[Solon]

I have the opposite opinion from LA Ute. The older I get, the more I wish I didn't go on a mission, or at least a mission to Germany. I started out well enough, word may have gotten back to my mission president that I was a little wild (though not really breaking the rules). My first two companions were great and then my MP put me through the gauntlet of three horrific companions.

First, I had the hardass who insisted on tracting until 9:30 at night and I was companions with him during the dead of winter when the sun went down around 4:30. There were a ton of ethnic Germans from the old USSR who had immigrated back to Germany (German names with Russian accents). We almost got beat up numerous times, when some burly German-Russian guy would come to the door with the small children screaming that we had just woken up. Another time he told someone at the door after they rejected us that he would "stand as a witness in heaven against them and tell God that they had rejected the gospel." I told the jerk that if he ever did that again, I'd kick his ass. Yes, we wore our suits and ties on P-Day. Yes, all he wanted to do was write letters all day on P-Day to his dozen brothers and sisters. Pure hell.

Second, I had the dink. This guy was one of those guys in the mission that no one ever wanted to be companions with. In 110 missionary mission like mine, there's usually only about five of them -- he was one of them. He was also a male cheerleader at the U. Just to be an equal opportunist, I had an EQP who was a male cheerleader in one of my wards at the Y and he seemed to be an asshole of equal gaping capacity.

Third, I had the severely emotionally disturbed missionary. This one also happened to be the MP's nephew. He was nicer and actually easier to get along with than the first two, but I never knew if I was going to be stabbed in my sleep. He had some odd fascination with the Nazis. Later on he apparently started cutting himself. When I was his companion, I broke down during an interview with the MP -- the MP had finally broke me after months living around the clock with three of the worst people I had ever come across in my life. I honestly think I could get along with the cast of the Real World better than these three successive companions. In Germany, the work doesn't take you away from the bad companions, it offers no distraction. Work in Germany doesn't involve teaching, service or any interaction with the members -- you're on your own.

In all honesty, I still don't think I've ever recovered from the whole experience. I don't know if was the natural emotional progression from being almost 20 to being almost 22, or if it was being in an awful situation for an extended period of time. I look at the bright side, at least I didn't have to charge the battlefields of Gettysburg, sit in a trench in Belgium or have to fight the Battle of the Bulge. I also didn't have to experience the batshit crazy things that SoonerCoug saw on his mission. A German mission is not pleasant, but it's nothing compared to Russia.

So yeah, sometimes I feel I should have followed my Dad's advice and not gone. I was never the same emotionally or intellectually after my mission (I'm probably alone on this, but I don't think reading the BoM about 10 times for two years really helped my intellectual growth -- college classes seemed to come easier to me before my mission).

To the extent that the "what if" game can be played, I believe strongly that if I had not gone on a mission, I would still be a believing member of the church.

I would also have decent teeth.